If your business is registered for VAT with NamRA, the invoices you give customers have to follow the Value-Added Tax Act. They let a VAT-registered customer claim back the VAT they've paid you, so a missing detail can cost your customer money, and cost you a customer.
When you must give one
A registered business must give a tax invoice whenever a customer asks for one. The exception is a cash sale of N$1,000 or less: that limit was N$100 until the VAT Amendment Act 5 of 2024 raised it from 1 October 2024. You can still give an invoice for a small sale if the customer wants one.
What it must show
Schedule VI of the Act lists the contents:
- the words "tax invoice" in a prominent place;
- your name, address and VAT registration number;
- the customer's name and address;
- a serial number and the date it was issued;
- a description of the goods or services;
- the quantity or volume supplied; and
- the VAT charged, the price before VAT and the price including VAT.
Number your invoices in one unbroken sequence, and keep a copy of each. Our invoice generator puts every one of these in the right place and downloads the invoice as a PDF.
VAT at 15%
The standard rate is 15%. Some supplies are zero-rated or exempt; the generator lets you choose the rate for each line.
Invoicing in another currency
The Act needs a tax invoice's amounts expressed in Namibia dollars. If you invoice a customer in rand, US dollars or another currency, show the Namibia dollar amounts too, at the exchange rate on the day. The generator does this when you type the rate.
If you're not registered
Registration is compulsory once your taxable supplies pass, or are expected to pass, N$1,000,000 in 12 months. That threshold was N$500,000 until 1 October 2024; NamRA's VAT web page still shows the old figure, but the amended Act is the law. Below the threshold you send ordinary invoices: they mustn't show VAT or call themselves tax invoices. Choose "No VAT" in the generator and the invoice is titled "Invoice".
Sources
- Value-Added Tax Act 10 of 2000, consolidated (NamRA)
- Value-Added Tax Amendment Act 5 of 2024 (Government Gazette 8443)
- Government Notices 279–281 of 2024: commencement on 1 October 2024 (Government Gazette 8460)
This is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice.